By Jason Apuzzo. Since we first debuted Terror Watch as a series here at Libertas back on the weekend of September 11th, there have been a torrent of announcements regarding War on Terror-themed projects in Hollywood and in the indie film world – confirming that we have a major, bona fide trend in play here. The floodgates are obviously now open, and the War on Terror – interpreted as a traditional American fight for freedom – has suddenly become one of the hottest subjects in Hollywood.
What’s causing this trend? I have my theories, which are in order: 1) the weakening grip of the Baby Boomers on Hollywood; 2) the successful bin Laden raid; 3) Obama in the White House; 4) the astonishing success of video games like Call of Duty and Battlefield.
But actually I don’t particularly care what’s causing it any longer. All I know is that it’s about damn time.
• Among the big new projects announced recently, two really caught my eye: the Navy SEAL drama Rubicon, and the CGI Iraq War thriller Thunder Run. Rubicon will be written, directed and produced by Christopher McQuarrie – and the Rubicon story will serve as a platform for a movie, graphic novel and a videogame. Rubicon is set in Afghanistan and features the Navy SEALs as the heroes and the Taliban the villains. Fabulous! We’ve only been waiting for this sort of thing for what – 10 years? McQuarrie’s brother actually commanded a SEAL team, and the film will otherwise be co-produced with founding SEAL Team Six member Dan Capel.
As an added bonus: Rubicon will be a retelling of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, with the Navy SEALs taking the place of the samurai.
So am I looking forward to this project? Hell yes. The Seven Samurai connection in particular gives the storyline a kind of mythic overtone, elevating it above conventional action-thriller fare. Cineastes may recall, incidentally, that director John Sturges’ classic Western The Magnificent Seven had similar origins in Kurosawa’s film. Bravo to McQuarrie and team for having the ambition to try this, and we’ll root for this project getting fully off the ground in days ahead.
As for Thunder Run, that appears to be an even more unusual project – essentially a 3D CGI depiction of the heroic capture of Baghdad by American forces in April 2003. The film is based on the novel Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad, and Black Hawk Down screenwriters Robert Port and Ken Nolan are writing the adaptation. Amazingly, the film already has Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington and Matthew McConaughey attached, along with director Simon West (Con Air, Tomb Raider). In other words, this is a very hot property – and given the gigantic debut of Call of Duty this past week, expectations for this film could be absolutely off the charts. Also: Thunder Run already has a promo poster out. [Btw, I’m wondering if Sam Worthington is clearing all this stuff with James Cameron?]
As if that’s not enough, Brad Thor’s novel Takedown is now in development at Warner Brothers. Takedown deals with a butt-kicking former Navy SEAL Team 6 member who takes on an Al Qaeda plot to strike New York; think Jack Bauer on steroids
In other new projects: Michelle Monaghan (Machine Gun Preacher) will be playing an Afghanistan War vet in the indie drama Fort Bliss; Tom Hanks has been offered the lead in Patriot Down, about a U.S. President on the run after Air Force One gets shot down over Pakistan; Producer Frank Marshall (the Indiana Jones & Bourne films) will now be adapting some of Jeffrey Archer’s novels; Oliver Hirschbiegel will soon be directing Eye in the Sky about drone strikes; and Universal may be picking up a new comic book project called War Heroes – although that one looks vaguely annoying.
• The Devil’s Double, which features an electrifying performance by Dominic Cooper in the dual role of Uday Hussein and his body double Latif Yahia, hits Blu-ray/DVD on November 22nd. If this film didn’t hit your area or you haven’t had the chance yet to check it out yet, this week will be your big chance. (Read Joe Bendel’s glowing review of the film from LFM’s coverage of Sundance.) Govindini and I were very impressed with the film and can’t recommend it enough.
• The big news, which came out just yesterday, is that the untitled Sony-Kathryn Bigelow ‘hunt for bin Laden’ movie has a new official release date of December 19th, 2012. Also: the movie apparently has its star, Jason Clarke (I’m not familiar with him), with prominent people like Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises), Guy Pearce, Idris Elba (Thor) and Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) circling other roles.
The initial rap against this film – in part – was that Sony had selected an October 2012 release date to capitalize on next year’s election and bolster Obama’s flagging re-election hopes. As I expressed in my initial Terror Watch, though, it didn’t seem very likely to me that Bigelow would even be able to make that date – and sure enough the movie has now been pushed off to mid-December, probably as late as Sony could go without dropping the film into January, a no-no for any film with award-season ambitions.
So what will the film be like? We simply don’t know yet. An interesting footnote, however: a competing Navy SEAL-bin Laden movie is already in the works called Code Name Geronimo, and yet another SEAL Team 6 project is currently being shopped around based on the new book SEAL Target Geronimo. Expect more of this sort of thing in the future. Someone might want to consider making a film, for example, called SEAL Team 6 Kills Code Name Geronimo bin Laden. Just a thought.
• A lot of the action lately on this front has been taking place in television. Mike Ovitz is currently developing Tom Clancy’s Homeland Security for TNT; the British indie film The Infidel is currently being developed as a series by NBC (read Govindini’s thoughts about that, along with my review of The Infidel); Fox just purchased a new CIA drama from Paul Greengrass and one of the writers of Falling Skies; Cinemax’s Strike Back just announced its Season 2 cast (see Joe Bendel’s Strike Back review); and India is about to get its own version of 24, produced by Fox TV and starring Anil Kapoor.
But obviously the show creating the biggest waves recently has been Showtime’s Homeland, which was recently renewed for a second season (read my thoughts on the pilot episode) after seeing a rise in its ratings. While some have questioned the show’s authenticity in depicting the CIA’s role in the War on Terror, the show has drawn largely favorable responses (see the Washington Times), and there’s already speculation about where the series will be headed in its second season.
Even after seeing just one episode, my sense is that Homeland’s strength consists in its having created a suspenseful situation – essentially, a ‘Manchurian Candidate’ scenario for the War on Terror era – that can be milked dramatically in a variety of ways. A lot of the War on Terror-themed stuff coming down the pike these days seems to be of the old-fashioned, shoot-’em-up variety – which is fine, but also expensive and difficult to do well. The ‘threat’ depicted in Homeland is more implied and perhaps, ultimately, more frightening than those typically depicted in war films: essentially, it’s the old motif of a double-agent thrust into a position of power and responsibility in our own country.
It’s a great concept – but also hard to keep going. It will be interesting to see how long the series’ creators can successfully spin that scenario out over multiple seasons. Producer Howard Gordon talks about the series here, as does star Damian Lewis (here and here).
• On the Video Game front, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is racking up absolutely astonishing, other-worldly numbers – the sort of sales figures that don’t ever happen in the entertainment industry, even when you’re talking about the Twilight series or Avatar. Call of Duty is estimated to have made $400 million on its first day, and $775 million in its first 5 days. That’s hard to comprehend. Its closest competition, Battlefield 3, itself recently sold 5 million units in its first week, making it EA’s fastest-selling game yet. And if you’re looking for a reason behind this new trend of War on Terror-related films, you may not need to look much further than the sales figures on these games. Anything the town can do to get a piece of this action they’re likely to do at this point.
Sam Worthington, Jonah Hill and the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard recently cut a pretty good ad for Call of Duty, so check that out. You can also see full trailers for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (here and here) and Battlefield 3 (here and here).
• In other Terror Watch News & Notes: the 24 movie is still muddling ahead (what’s taking so long?); sci-fi site io9 trashes Frank Miller’s Holy Terror here (judge for yourself on that); Ben Affleck’s Argo now has a release date (Sept. 14th, 2012) and there’s also casting news on that film; Act of Valor has a new trailer out; indie cult comedy Lady Magdalene’s, which features a Nevada brothel madam – played by Nichelle Nichols (Uhura in Star Trek) – fighting an Al Qaeda plot to nuke Hoover Dam, is now available in its entirety for free on-line (it’s a hoot); Ralph Fiennes’ directorial debut Coriolanus has a creepy new poster out; three interesting new articles are out about world cinema culture and the Arab Spring (see here, here and here); and Megan Fox and Anna Faris talk (very briefly) about working on Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator.
• AND IN TODAY’S MOST IMPORTANT NEWS … we take a look at Diane Kruger (above) at the Oct. 21st Paris premiere of Special Forces, a new French film about a commando team that rescues a journalist kidnapped by the Taliban. Actually, can you really blame the Taliban for kidnapping Diane Kruger? There are worse ways to spend a weekend …
And that’s what our night vision goggles are seeing in today’s Terror Watch!
Published on November 19th, 2011 at 11:42am.
Okay, that was awesome, Jason.
i09 has it completely wrong about “Holy Terror.” It’s a brilliant piece of propaganda — in the spirit of Thomas Paine even. It opens with the Verse of the Sword written across two pages — something that surely sets the tone. There’s even an Israeli ally, who has the Star of David on his facemask.The book is a cinematic explosion built up by centuries of Islamist political correctness.
Thunder Road sounds absolutely awesome — I can not wait. Sam Worthington is awesome, and you know how I feel about “Avatar” (it’s the most accidental libertarian film ever made).
And Jason Clarke is awesome. I noticed him in “Public Enemies” and I think he became a star in the absolutely awesome “Chicago Code.”
Thanks, Vince – as always, I appreciate your thoughts here.
Yes, Thunder Road and Rubicon are really looking cool; it’s hard not to get enthusiastic about this stuff, especially after years of waiting. And as for Worthington, I’m very glad that he’s open to doing this kind of thing, and hasn’t over-committed himself philosophically to doing just one sort of project. He’s going to have a lot of fans this way.
I’ll check Jason Clarke out. I have a copy of Public Enemies on my shelf but haven’t watched it yet. Thanks for the tip …
It has occurred to me that a high number of these projects may come out in at earliest after the election, and probably well into 2013. If this happens to be the case, then a number of these projects may be post Obama projects (if he loses the election). If this happens to be the case and we get a Republican president, will Hollywood try to find a way to shelve many of these projects until another Democrat surfaces? Or maybe will they try to slant the film to make it less patritotic? I hope this is not the case, but who knows how far a Hollywood liberal will go in the name of ideology.
Omar, I think you’ve got to get accustomed to the idea that Hollywood in 2011 isn’t the same Hollywood of ten or twenty years ago. As I’ve said over and over again at this site, the big thing going on here is that a younger generation is currently making the decisions in Hollywood, and this younger generation is not as partisan or ideologically committed as the Baby Boomers were.
Mr. Apuzzo: It might take a while for me to get accustomed to the change, but i will be ecstatic if you are proven right. If this generation is less partisan, that will make make a bunch of moviegoers more willing to shell out their hard earned money. I again thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my post.
No problem, Omar. Incidentally, Govindini recently wrote an article dealing with this subject for The Atlantic that you might want to check out:
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/10/hey-conservatives-its-safe-to-go-to-the-movies-again/244715/?single_page=true
Is there any update on the film adaptation of Col. Matthew Bogdanos’ book Thieves of Baghdad? I recall reading a blurb about it on the old version of Libertas many years ago but I’ve heard nothing since.
I’ve heard nothing new on that one.
. . .about a U.S. President on the run after Air Force One gets shot down
Paging Snake Plissken on the white courtesy phone.
– “S.D. Plissken … American, Lieutenant: Special Forces Unit ‘Black Light.’ Two Purple Hearts, Leningrad and Siberia. Youngest man to be decorated by the President. Then you robbed the Federal Reserve Depository … life sentence, New York maximum security penitentary. I’m about to kick your ass out of the world, war hero … ”
– “Call me, ‘Snake.'”
Rubicon sounds great. I love Kurosawa’s work. Good Job Noob!
If they cast that film right, they could end up with a classic on their hands. I’d love to see the Thunder Run cast do Rubicon …
I got my Devil’s Double Blu-Ray yesterday, and popped it straight into the player.
Wow … what a film!
From the trailer, I knew it was going to look great and even have a few nice action scenes, but I didn’t expect to see such an examination of autocratic regimes, and the dangers they present to the individual and the family. Again, I know I’ve written about this a lot, but Christianity has been the biggest thrust in the heart of state-worship, and I couldn’t help but notice all of the Christian imagery in Latif’s hotel room near then end.
It didn’t have to be there, so I have to think it was a powerful visual to illustrate the conflict of really the entire film. That really resonated.
I don’t think I’ll see a better film that actually debuted in 2011. “Carlos” and “Farewell” are still easily the best overall pictures I’ve seen this year.
Vince, I’m so glad you liked it. We’ve really been trying to get the word out to people about that film because it’s so extraordinary …
I’ll totally admit that I wouldn’t have even given Rubicon a second glance if not for it being specifically based off the Seven Samuri (which I love). I love when people re-tell that story in a new and interesting way. Just for that, I might actually see it in theaters instead of waiting for it to come out on DVD.